The Arab world was never devoid of artistic greatness, with the likes of Mahmoud Saïd, Monir Farmanfarmaian, and Shaker Hassan Al Saïd and their brilliance. The onset of the pandemic and its subsequent push towards the digital world created exposure for all that the Arab region always had to offer. Meet the Arab NFT artists and Illustrators who are playing their part in elevating Art and NFTs in the Middle East as they slowly but surely gain prominence worldwide simultaneously.
Zeinab Alhashemi
Zeinab is an Emirati artist and a visual storyteller who uses multi-media to realise her work, specialising in conceptual art and has grown to be well-known for her large-scale contemporary site installations. She continuously takes up challenges by experimenting with new materials and techniques. A bachelor of arts graduate from Zayed University in Graphic Design, Zeinab was the Creative Director for Crypto Emirate, an exhibition of Emirati digital artworks. Although the Arab NFT artist’s technique is contemporary, the subject of her art centres around the cultural traditions of her native country, UAE.
Kristel Bechara
Based in the UAE, Kristel Bechara is a Lebanese modern visual artist who embraces expressive colours and dynamic patterns using oil, acrylic and giclée printmaking mediums to depict emotions. Her artwork is always set against a monochromatic canvas to create vivid and thought-provoking photographic imagery. Galleries across the world have exhibited Bechara’s artworks from her multiple collections, earning her several awards and accolades. The artist intends her art to celebrate life and honour beauty in its diverse incarnations. Bechara is arguably the first female artist in the MENA region to adopt NFT technology by releasing numerous art collections establishing her as a prolific artist in the field.
Ruba Salameh
The multi-disciplinary artist from Nazareth immerses in painting, art installations, photography and video production as mediums for her art. The body of work expressed across her artworks revolves around pondering the notions of land, geographies, nationalism and displacement. Her art derives from contemplating daily life scenarios, frequently resulting in a dystopian state by employing cynicism and irony as tools for political suspension points. Her artworks ‘Ants Work’ and ‘Stripcle BRO’ were displayed in Sharjah’s first NFT exhibition, titled Gateway to the Metaverseat, at House of Wisdom last year.
Known as Dear Nostalgia, Adra Kandil is a Lebanese visual artist and communications designer. The artist’s first NFT sold in under 30 minutes through Emergeast, the region’s first NFT exhibition. Adra plunges into female empowerment through her art. She tackles these challenging topics using dreamy retro aesthetic imagery with bright pop colours and bold typography. Her artwork itself is a juxtaposition of beauty and struggle, with an ode to the hardships women in the region face. Most of her pieces aim to articulate a visual commentary on modern-day issues that are culturally relevant to women today.
Nourie Flayhan
The illustrator, known for her surrealism, creates art immersed in emotions with hints of social injustices, hope and awareness. Nourie Flayhan grew up in the US to her Lebanese parents, followed by a move to Kuwait, and finally graduated from London. With a wider perspective of the world, her illustrations often allude to a world of dreamy surrealistic magnificence with the eyes and hands used as the principal motifs. Her artworks centre mostly around women, and their stories Flayhan grew up listening. Flayhan doesn’t shy away from politically charged imagery or voicing out the stories that needed to be heard since she believes it’s her social responsibility to bring them to the world.
Ichraq Bouzidi
The Moroccan artist describes her art as expressed through a female perspective dealing with complex feelings. To accommodate her parents’ aspirations, Bouzidi studied architecture for years. Naturally, her artworks employ Arabic calligraphy and Islamic geometrical motifs along with contemporary pop culture references. Bouzidi takes her surrounding environment and carries everyday life experiences to her canvas in a surreal way. The minimalistic and multi-layered approach allows her to seek conflicting aspects of society in a poetic and often metaphorical language.
